Sulfa's language post reminds me

greenclown · May 2010

My last name is not all that uncommon. EVERYBODY says it wrong. EVERYBODY. It drives me batshit crazy. If you know my name, let's put it this way. If someone from France heard you say my name the way most people say it, they'd probably make fun of you. It would never occur to me to say my name the way most people do.

Nobody could pronounce my maiden name, but at least they had the excuse of never seeing it before.

Mama_SAS · May 2010

Now I'm curious - not that I want to know your name - but can you think of another word and compare pronunciation to demonstrate?

greenclown · May 2010

It's supposed to be like tomAHto, but people make it sound like tomato.

jCamsquared · May 2010

Like it should be Frank from Father of the Bride, not Frank the tank?

greenclown · May 2010

FOTB

biomaj5 · May 2010

My married name is this way. It's of French origin, but people mispronounce it all the time. I don't think the way DH's family pronounces it would be correct in France either, but most people just butcher it.

jCamsquared · May 2010

greenclown:
FOTB

That's how I assumed it was, but maybe it's because I have known someone else with that last name before? I dunno, I thought it was obvious though.

Get this - people ask how to spell my last name.

Melaneigh1 · May 2010

I always have to repeat and spell my last name. It's three letters people, and two of them are the same. Stupids.

At a chinese restaurant, the host asked for our name for the list, and when I told him, he laughed and said "is that really a name?" I said, "Well, I bet your name sounds funny to me."

preppynewlywed · May 2010

I'm like you. I went from an ethnic name that people never got right ever to a name that I thought would be smooth sailing.

Not so.

MORE people ask me how to spell my last name now than before. Are you kidding me? You know my last name.

How is that hard to spell? It is so unbelievably common...not to mention quite famous {unfortunately no relation}.

XXXXX222 · May 2010

At work most of the time I can guess how to say customers' names (come on people, sound it out, right?), but if it's French or German I almost always ask. There are a lot of people with French or German last names around here that have changed the pronunciation to be more phonetic.

jCamsquared · May 2010

preppynewlywed:

How is that hard to spell? It is so unbelievably common...not to mention quite famous.

That's how I feel about mine. And my maiden name is incredibly rare and hard to spell/pronounce/understand in general, so I too thought I was done with that when I got married.

Mama_SAS · May 2010

I have the most common last name and people still ask how to spell it.

preppynewlywed · May 2010

jCamsquared:
preppynewlywed:

How is that hard to spell? It is so unbelievably common...not to mention quite famous.

That's how I feel about mine. And my maiden name is incredibly rare and hard to spell/pronounce/understand in general, so I too thought I was done with that when I got married.

I feel like I got jipped. LOL. It was one of the things about which I was most excited.

ginifred · May 2010

Oh, yes.

My maiden name was a color. People would as how to spell it all the time. I would say, the same way you should have learned to spell it in kindergarten.

greenclown · May 2010

preppynewlywed:
jCamsquared:
preppynewlywed:

How is that hard to spell? It is so unbelievably common...not to mention quite famous.
That's how I feel about mine. And my maiden name is incredibly rare and hard to spell/pronounce/understand in general, so I too thought I was done with that when I got married.
I feel like I got jipped. LOL. It was one of the things about which I was most excited.

Yeah, same here. I looked forward to getting rid of my maiden name my entire life. It's been such a let down.

Temp950106187509203 · May 2010

Pronunciation is the only reason I'm sad I changed my name. My dad was a douche and I have no contact with his family, so I was happy to get rid of it, except that it was super simple and common and no one ever ever ever got it wrong. H's name is a relatively common name...in Denmark. It follows Danish rules of pronunciation, not English. So people who hear me say it try to spell it with extra letters, and people who see it written ALWAYS use a short vowel when it should be long. So frustrating.